The Delusions of Yesteryears

 

So I am told by the elderly, that volunteering to enlist for World War 2 in the mid 20th century was seen as obligatory by most to do their duty to nation and society - but in those times it was also an exciting adventure like opportunity to see the World.  Millennials, Gen Z and those following behind the Baby Boomers have had peacetime opportunity to explore overseas without the accompanying dangers of battle.

We have been given authority like advice on the health risks of eating eggs, desired blood pressure points and the benefits of health supplements.  Dissenting voices now appear in cyberspace to counter or modify such advice.  Every one has an individual uniqueness health wise - and to be subject to population averages can be missing the mark.

Many of us must have reflected on the serious loyalty and passion of sitting down to watch and hear the news telecast.   As the internet liberated the expression of and accessibility to information, it has become so clear and evident of how such news content has been cherry picked and emphasised according to the powers of the day (financial, geopolitical and more).  Now the equivalant Town Hall megaphone pundits are doing it by clicks, social media and more.

Nothing is forever.  The impermanence of Things pervades more than ever, despite the tech advance, the addictive distractions and new ideas.   Strive and enjoy the Moment.  A promise can be fulfilled and yet disintegrate due to the consistency of Change.   Excessive attachments interfere with true happiness.  Flora bloom, rot and regenerate.  Politicians come and go, together with whatever inspiration, lies and mediocrities.  The Cloud demands your money payments after you get comfy storing your data having access to it from any device.  Pets die.  And yet we have to carry on.

When young, our brains and inner soul absorb the wonder and fascination of what we are being fed in all respects.   Only later do we realise the half truths of the geopolitical game.   That Prime Minister we honoured in our childhood turns out to be a scroundel.   The public or commercial institution we use has mismanaged our data.  Customers long loyal to a specific entity get rewarded by being screwed with higher charges and bad service.

The romanticisation from movies, travel brochures and legends have hidden realities.   Exotic locales can mean suppression of Indigenous peoples.   History is always recorded ignoring the contributions from humans and human structures not useful to the World as it is According to Those In Power.

When we have been brain washed through the years, essentially we can still hang on to myths, tampered propanganda and blurry impressions of the past.

Were historical leaders that good?

Where we witness a mass of people wailing at state funerals, do we remember the dark side and acts of the deceased indivudual when he or she was in power?  Human beings are easily swept over by overwhelming public emotion.  To realise the truth, even if not downtrodden, is a liberating experience.

The distractions of the past also point a way to better manage the continuing delusions of the present.
If you look close enough, history does repeat.   There are similar characteristics in the personality and pyschological make up of humans and entities out to delude us all the way to the future.

On the bright side, delusions experienced are only a necessary stage on your journey to realisation and awakening.


#yongkevthoughts

Eating Choices Revisited

 I am not sure if public service hygiene inspectors anywhere cover dietary and nutrition aspects.

I do home cooking most of the time.  When eating out across greater Sydney, 

I do find I get more thirsty an hour or two after eating out.

Aussie society is caught up with the American obsession for fast food.

Unhealthy food in Aus is generally accessible, cheaper and made addictive.

Creative ways of making salads using fresh produce are available in my side of the woods at home and when eating out.

It was reported recently that the intake of fruits and veg has fallen amongst kids in Australia, despite the blessings in this continental island for produce from tropical to temperate climes.

Aus styled barista made coffee tastes better than coffee in other western societies.  As such, coffee drinking obsession is evident in the mornings anywhere across Australia.  

How healthy is drinking too much barista made coffee?  The jury is still out.  

What is definitely

unhealthy is the Aussie penchant for having bacon and other processed small goods in their daily intake.  Every society has a historical culinary addiction to preserved, pickled and processed meats like sausages, condiments and marinates.

When not taken in moderation, they can spell trouble for the human body, especially when consumed regularly over as many years.

Another main culprit is deep fried dishes, by whatever label they come to us - crispy, oil soaked or battered.  Southern Chinese Yum Cha has its fair share of deep frieds if one avoids the steamed versions.  Banana fritters, 

deep fried chicken bites, fish and chips in the Anglo tradition, Japanese tempura and supermarket snacks are just some examples. And yes, I got my KFC deep fried chicken wings yesterday.

The ever persistent danger is the sugar level in our constant diets.  Sugar is so cheaply available and can be said to be added in varying amounts in things we eat outside, whether they are, for example, in Thai dishes, French patisserie offerings, Taiwan  bubble tea drinks or in the obvious Krispy Kream doughnuts.

 Supermarkets are stacked aplenty with items "trying to balance" between sugar, salt and fat.

#yongkevthoughts

A Reflection Along the Way

 

Omicron infections are spiking in Malaysia and Singapore.

The experience of Sydney since December 2021, where the state governmemt has fast let virtually all restrictions removed and the spread go rip throughout the community, suggests some salient matters.

Each individual has his or her own unique risk circumstances and parameters.

Although most Omicron infections seem to only cause milder symptoms than Delta, there is a risk of long Covid, whether one is vaccinated or not.

The nsw state premier and Aus PM have pushed it to self responsibility for managing any covid infections, at most since December 2021.

Public and political management of covid can have powerful hidden agendas.

Self prevention of infection remains the most consistent weapon for individuals.  Omicron transmission is said to occur through both hangabout air and infected surfaces.

Several side effects of Covid vaccines are not highlighted by mainstream media and governments. It can be the luck of the draw when one does not react adversely to the different typres of vaccinations.

If you reckon you have been in a high infection risk area, practically self check any ensuing symptoms. Continue to build and maintain your natural or personal immunity level and enjoy lots of fresh ventilation indoors and outdoors.

Be conscious of where covid enters the body - mainly through the nostrils and throat.

There can be more mutated strains after Omicron.  No authority fully knows the next path of covid.  Mistakes in covid management can be repeated or avoided in the future.

All each of us can do best is to exercise mindful practicality, to synchronise with your life patterns. Prepare for different scenarios of how covid can act out in 2022.

#yongkevthoughts

Green is the Colour to Immerse Your Eyes With

 

Musings about Controlling Covid - Australia January 2021

 

It is now the fourth wave of Covid spread in Sydney.
Once Covid leaks through from overseas arrivals on plane or ship to the local community, it is harder to contain, without hitting hard and early on focused movement restrictions for an interim period.

Once Covid reappears in the local community, better mental health is attained by confident and reassuring measures to stop its spread, much better than attending the much respected cricket games.

The risks of Covid spreading from the latest Avalon, Croydon and Berala clusters can impact on inadequate infrastructure and resources to optimally manage further infection break outs beyond the borders of the Sydney Basin.

In almost 4 weeks since the reporting of the Avalon cluster in Sydney's northern beaches, around 270 exposure sites have been traced for NSW and another hundred in Victoria - and counting.

Despite this reality, the free movement of people continues, even when for NSW residents, up to 200 infections have been identified in the state since the middle of December 2020.

In contrast, Hebei Province was totally locked down with severe movement restrictions immediately, after a lesser number of infections occured this past week in a city in its south.

The Queensland state government today declared a three day severe lockdown for a defined area of Brisbane and selected suburbs (instead of blanketing other non-relevant areas)  from 6pm their time, just after a quarantine hotel cleaner was confirmed to have contracted the rather more infectious UK mutated strain of Covid.

Most Australian states have imposed hard border controls to prevent NSW residents from coming, perhaps echoing their serious concerns on how relaxed the NSW government has been reacting to Covid cases and its spread in its own backyard.

A swift and strict lockdown for a short period can be more effective to dispel uncertainty than an approach wavering on varying daily case figures.

Contact tracing and extensive testing are only ways of managing public health after the Covid has bolted in.

Prevention is best, by stopping leakages. It is effective to stop overseas arrivals, especially on a temporary basis, emphatically in view of much more infectious versions of Covid jumping inside the country to locally transmit through direct contact staff and transport drivers without adequate PPE physically in touch with infected arrivals.

Local individuals working face on with overseas arrivals need to face a more stringent regime of daily testing and not being able to spread Covid back to their families, vulnerable work sites like aged care homes and indoor venues like shopping and medical hubs.

AEDT 4 pm, 8 January 2021, Sydney NSW.

#yongkevthoughts
#coronavirus

Too Late, Too Little

 

15 January 2021 - It is said, in Los Angeles County, California, that a person dies of Covid 19 every eight minutes.

The quality and effectiveness of your political leaders in decision making inevitably affects your life, even if you do everything otherwise possible, especially in an epidemic.

The reality at ground level is at best inconvenience.  Worse are the long term negative effects suffered by Covid 19 survivors, the battered impact on front line and public service workers and the raging number of fatalities as various strains of the latest Coronavirus rampage throughout so many communities.

"Out of control" is being unable to cope with an overstrained health support system, the decimation of prospects and hope, the lingering imposition of uncertainty,   unnecessary Covid leakage opportunities, politicisation prioritised over other requirements and headless chicken reaction when contact tracing is no longer viable.

And yes, mass vaccination and roll out issues may not fulfil all their promises.

When reality is tarred with incompetence, every new day can be more Covid deadly than the day before.

#yongkevthoughts
#coronavirus

Lurking Dangers In Over Using Cyberspace

There is nothing free for convenient access to Apps and information from the Web.

Something is taken by us inevitably for something else seemingly so amazingly without cost.

How much of yourself are you willing to give up, and how much of this can come back to bite you?    It is not just privacy, integrity, dependency, addiction and vulnerability that we are at risk of. There are health risks with over use of eyes and slack posture when dealing with mobile and desktop devices.

Human invented tech and devices have shown a long track record of being abused and misused, apart from bringing benefits.    The inter-connectivity of various smart devices can amplify the risks arising from just using one. 

On the other hand, it is not a zero sum game between us individuals and the powers that rule us in cyberspace.   The latter obviously make use of us, but how can we make use of them as well?   As with any danger, the first step is to realise and acknowledge. 

Then comes the greatest risk of all, to do nothing on our part. I observe users and the media continue to wallow in known risks, but carry on irregardless of the progress of the dangers posed. 

We continue to add more Apps, get reminders to update systems, rely on data tracking websites in our daily lives and get distracted by fancy gadgets which can work on the basis that they did not fully tell us the truth.

Our individual relaxation, commercial and usage patterns begin to be controlled by forces we normally do not want to be acquainted with.  Just like news of drug busts by authorities, the frequency of data hacking on a massive scale shows that reported incidents are really just the tip of the iceberg of events.   

Don't you want back a world which does not know so much of your identity, inner thoughts, activities and joy? 

Don't you want a world where aggressive, greedy and fraudulent intentions cannot continue so much to exploit you?

I have read unrequited, unnecessary, sensational and divisive comments, information and feedback on social media.   

A good first step in responding to this dangerous world is to moderate use of the mechanisms by which we are being exploited.

Use less Apps, less internet search engines, less storage mechanisms that deliver convenience but can disappear in the Cloud.   Always back up critical and significantly important data elsewhere in non-digital form.

Diversify your usage, storage, identity and communication activity across all fronts and do not put all your proverbial eggs in one basket. Over dependence can lead to obsession and higher risks.

Balance your lifestyle away from over interactions with machines, artificial intelligence and robots to deal more with humans and Nature.

Increase the use of your own brain, thinking and intelligence in various aspects of your own life.

Increase your self realisation and recognition of hype in the promotion of more products, newer models and temporary fun on a regular basis.

Where possible, go direct to the source of information and assistance. Be wary of middle parties and brokers lurking in cyberspace.

Get more healthy sensations elsewhere instead of overly depending on wi-fi. 

Feel the love of your pet, look up to the sky, just talk with family and friends face to face or learn a craft, instead of constantly just pressing our thumbs on electronic devices.

Plant something natural, watch it grow and enjoy its harvests. 

I assure you the experience can be better than keeping track of the number of likes on an App.

Always be mindful that cyberspace tech is a tool to be utilised by us - and not the other way around.


#yongkevthoughts

Matters that are Still A Bother

So I sit with a group of mates overlooking the beach, somewhere on the South Coast of NSW. It seems to me a most familiar scene, its peacefulness taken for granted, with the fresh breeze much appreciated after another rather humid summer's day.

What has not changed can be something we can be much grateful for. At the same time, there are less desired aspects of matters that remain the same, or have grown worse.

Venezuelans remain trapped in economic despair as a country rich in petroleum resources continue to spiral in negativity under the dictatorship that seems to be a South American affliction.

An infectious disease like Ebola resurfaces in central Africa, adding to a heady mix of socio-political issues.

An African swine disease out break is being managed in southern China, with the dry winter air increasing health risks. 

Guns under personal ownership and military weapons of bigger destruction continue to wreck havoc, grief and damage.

Individuals continue to have a strong urge to migrate in illegal ways to seek a better life, whether to escape from political or religious persecution, economic malaise or discrimination.

The use of trade wars or extreme tariffs is escalated to appease heartland support groups. This inceases the likelihood of escalating into military conflict between nations. History has many examples of this.

Excessive spend on fireworks, extreme hotel prices, lots of alcohol, huge street gatherings, fancy restaurant prices and a heightened sense of crowd control highlight the ritual of a change in the annual calendar. Local governments, commercial parties and the media cash in.

The gap between the very rich and the poorest in any society continues to widen.

Addiction to technology marches on, no matter what is discussed about the erosion of privacy, manipulation of data, increasing reliance on a few super duper companies and the effects of excessive screen time.

The usefulness of increased revenue for governments does not change from high consumption levels, gambling activities, over construction of apartment blocks and outsourcing of management of vital assets to private parties.

There remains too much talk and lack of action by politicians who prioritise their own self interests way above the needs of the voter populace.

There is a surge of illicit drugs that still comes in to damage the brain, health capacity and personalities of the vehicle driver, colleague at work and family member.

The increased loss of common sense, accompanied by the manipulation of law and policy, to obtain over the top financial benefits by knowledgable claimants who have selective causes.

Decreased personal communication is happening despite the increased channels available to do so.

The loss of press freedoms is evident in a more politically restrictive world. Even when media appears relatively more free, behind the scenes, such media are owned and controlled by powerful owners with their own cultural and political agendas.

There is increased use of our skies for passenger, commercial and cargo traffic.

Personal identification, monitoring and data storage have increased in leaps and bounds.

And the beer continues to taste good, which may not be a bad thing.

The Past Twelve Months

CHRISTMAS  2018

Reflecting beside the lapping waves of a remote bay…….

It has been a year different from others, but yet rewarding and eye opening.

I have had an opportunity, albeit unexpected, to look more into my inner self,

clear the decks of past practices, letting go of temporal distractions and

enhance my appreciation of life.

The mind and the heart synchronized better, like the stars in an alignment to

reaffirm and learn more important things.

Time is relative and the passing of time by itself, a man made concept.   I got more in tune with my biological clock.  I realized how much more our body can heal itself, how our potential is much unutilized, to avoid inflammation (in the widest meaning of the word) and to savour oxidation  ( in all implications of the word).

Some things are never done and seem repetitive in a cyclic process, but it does

add to the transformation.   Other things are done once and we move on.   Some things will never be and others yet can be “Why Not?”

To break free, I woke up to stop accumulating things that add to bother, diversion, hesitancy and clutter.   Yet I acknowledged why I had been attracted to such things.   A want or a need has to be fed, but once I cut off the want, I am liberated to do other things.

Cyberspace and physical reality merged more on all fronts  - work, business, down time and social time.   The ease with which virtual reality offers can be a two edged sword, as there is nothing more refreshing than meeting up face to face and chatting vocally.

I appreciated more the removal of clutter.   I value more the ability to be independent, to be more patient, to be cognizant of higher things.

Society, with a larger population and more demands put upon it, can have its seams breaking down in lowered standards and practice of ethics.   I watched with bewilderment the blatant disregard in how corporations mistreated customers, how individuals in business and politics just took care of the very selfish needs of themselves  - and how compliance requirements are disregarded when they should not be.

I continue to observe the greater intensity with which, in my own country, excessive drinking, drug addiction, rude driving, uncontrolled gambling with the dice and a coddled and dependent mentality can wreck havoc and malfeasance for my society and community.   I acknowledge the dangerous addiction with smart phone apps and social media.

Yet there have been magical moments of being able to catch up with friends and relatives from far and near…….London, Hong Kong, Zurich, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Auckland, George Town, Brisbane and Melbourne.   It was a wedding, it was a dinner and drinks, it was shopping, it was a home meal, it was a car ride.

I never take for granted the cool breezes coming form the ocean where I live.  I accept with a renewed gratitude that there is still a shared sense of community where I choose to reside.   I treasure the option of meeting new people.   I do not take for granted the cocoon supported by reliable friends.   I have tried new culinary dishes  - maybe more by consuming them than cooking them.  

I am more eager to try natural food to feed my body than swallow manufactured tablets and the hype of fake news nutrition.    The way that moderation has not been practiced is more observed by me, whether it is in the shopping malls, reactions of negative people, the manner some people carry on their shoulders and in my not using all of my capability and capacity.

There have been iconic moments this past year……walking along the river at Port Macquarie at dawn, spending time with beautiful souls, missing the company of significant individuals, being able to try diverse cooking and more.   Challenges have been taken by the bull’s horns, outcomes enjoyed like with a doggie on my lap and the passion not reduced for life.

Kindly yours,

Kevin Yong

Vitamins

The prevalence of commercially sold vitamins has increased many fold in many nations, especially those with viable incomes and purchasing power.   Vitamins, to go back to basics, are manufactured by use of artificially made ingredients, claim the health benefits of a spectrum of produce, fruits and vegetables and mostly contain other stuff to come in tablet form.

There can be an increasing need to monitor the basic standards of manufacture in countries outside your own.   We have come across horror stories of illegal and unhealthy materials being covertly used in the manufacture of several things we consume, so we should be cautious about the quality requirements in the vitamins that many of us take daily.   Vitamins are essentially body intake supplements and are not prescribed medicines to help relieve or mitigate negative medical conditions.

The best sources of health nutrition come from partaking vegetables, seafood and fruits in moderate amounts and ensuring that your personal diet covers the various colours that these Nature given food stuff come in.   It can be exasperating to see the commercial push in sales by manufacturers and retailers of vitamins and other bottled comparable health supplements.

Significant questions of risks in over consuming such vitamin tablets, especially for those who consume them on a daily basis, must be reviewed by every consumer.   Every individual has a unique body in terms of size, metabolism, allergy and preference - and the dosage of taking vitamins can play a risk factor.   The body excretes excess Vitamin C taken by us.

Vitamin D comes especially to mind when low levels are detected in the body from routine blood tests.    The medical sector opinion on what is low, sufficient and too high levels of one's own Vitamin D levels can be subjective.   What is good for the goose can be bad for the gander, so they say.   One school of thought suggests a higher cancer growth risk from having too low levels of natural Vitamin D in the body, but the jury is still out on such pronouncements.   The sedentary and indoor lifestyle of many of the world's city workers can mean they are out of the natural sunlight for most of the day, when just an hour's consistent exposure to such sunlight can mean not having to take any supplementary Vitamin D tablets.


There are further dangers from the treatment if our body has over dosages of such Vitamin D tablets.   Moderation is the key in all aspects of every day life, so beware the recommendation to pop a pill every morning.    Taking vitamins must be viewed as an option in the spectrum of remedies, including physical exercise, ensuring consumption of natural sources, mitigations that address the cause of symptoms instead of just reacting to outward body conditions, understanding the balance of energy in our bodies and allowing the power in ourselves to heal.


A consumer's possible confusion can arise between the usefulness of a supplement as opposed to a medical prescribed need.   In societies where the cure is often a tablet, approved drugs and artificial means of treatment, the mindset of patients can readily accept a litany of manufactured medicines instead of considering other and useful alternative ways.


A few Western governments have ordered combination of specific vitamins into the making of high public consumed items like bread.
This follows the century old practice of putting fluoride into the public water supply.   By law, a certain amount of Thiamin and Foliate is mixed into the wheat flour by bread makers.   Vitamin D is added to margarines and spreads in Australia.   Fortification of such vitamins to foods sounds like an apparent socialist decree from a nanny state, but individuals can choose to make their own breads and spreads.

Vitamins can have a undesired impact on kidneys and the need for the body to absorb more drinking water.   Vitamins can be mostly made of gel to hold it all together in a tablet.   You can figure out the relative costs in making a single tablet and reflect on the prices charged to the ultimate consumer.   Health supplement stores work together with pharmacies, medical clinics, manufacturers, lobby groups and regulatory bodies and governments of the day.   The negative side effects of vitamin intake are often not well known or under emphasised.  Be careful, do not make the cure worse than the original ailment.   A high intake of vitamins can interfere with the workings of specific medicines.


What then are the natural sources of the so called essential Vitamins for us?

Vitamin A - Cod liver oil, butter, cheeses, sweet potato, kale,  carrots, spinach, mangoes, watermelons, papayas, tangerines, apricots, nectarines, guavas, passion fruits, hard boiled eggs, fatty fish like salmon, trout, blue fin tuna and mackerel.

Vitamin B -  Whole Grains, beans, eggs, poultry, dark leafy greens, cantaloupes, oranges, papayas and fish.


Vitamin C - citrus fruits, watermelon, berries, pineapple, papayas, mangoes, Kiwi fruits, cantaloupes, broccoli, tomatoes, spinach, green and red peppers, cauliflower and leafy greens.


Vitamin D - Egg Yolks, cheese, okra, soybeans, kale, spinach, salmon, sardines, rainbow trout and other fatty fish.


Vitamin E -   Sunflower seeds, avocado, almonds, spinach and broccoli.


Vitamin K -  Green leafy vegetables, eggs, fish, meat, liver, broccoli, spinach and kale.

The Extent of Fresh Foods Consumed

If quality of life also means access to and consumption of more fresh food in daily practice, then the statistics for packaged food use is a surprise.

In 2016, the top nation spending most of packaged food is Norway, which purchased around twice the amount per capita in fast food obsessed USA. Western nations figure high in packaged food which are mostly sourced in supermarkets, petrol stations and 24 hour corner grocery chains. 

Japan is ranked number 7 in this category, which can be contradictory to its national high age living expectancy, but which can also be explained by a high proportion of its society experiencing a rigorous and demanding urban lifestyle dependent on convenient packaged foods, like from sophisticated vending machines. 

Australia at number ten is no surprise. I have often observed the dominance of processed food on the shelves of the major supermarkets of packaged food, many laden with sugar, most with brightly coloured designs and placed at strategic locations in the layout. There has been an effort to expand fresh food options like sushi, fruit and veg. Admirable is the availability of free fruit for kids in supermarkets in New Zealand.

The inequities in income and purchasing power can come into play for buying more packaged foods. Fresh food is on average more expensive and has a shorter shelf life. 

With packaged food comes the question of how seriously consumers read the detail on the labels. In recent years, packaged food sizes have shrunk for many products despite retaining the same retail price. There is the interesting aspect of extent of disclosure of the source of the packaged offering. As consumers emphasise more on effects on health from manufactured food, small retailers and big chains do continue to provide more information, but it is what is not disclosed that has risen to be of concern.

The arrival of cheaper per unit but more bulk buying models like Costco in new markets and nations can also add to the spend on packaged foods. Bottled drinks, dried fruit and nuts, cooking essentials, frozen options and lollies are often captivating buys for growing families.

The standard of living measure obviously does not just mean more fresh produce but is more of a holistic measure of choice, convenience and cultural options. 

Health and Politics

If we earnestly want to protect our body and its physiology, we do all we can to prevent infection. We instinctively avoid allowing entry of bad bacteria and strengthen our body's immunity and natural defences.

We become disciplined ourselves to ensure the best in what we eat, how we keep fit and the way to practise what we believe in. 

Where bad bacteria gets one part of our body to be infested, we do what we can early to rid the cause of the problem. 

We take steps to contain the situation. We do not continue to carry on our previous policy in how we behave, in effectively managing the risks of getting infected again.

We look at the facts, we do not chatter away but immediately take action to protect what is all right with us and remove the source of what is affecting our overall health. 

We do not give excuses to ourselves. We are conscious of the medicines we take, the side effects and are serious in building up a database of our health treatment and related checks. 

We seek as much information to help ourselves foremost and not facilitate the agendas of others which do not help maintain or nurture our interests.

We maintain a healthy and balanced mindset to acknowledge and appreciate about what is still right about our body and health. We become determined to ensure our integrity and inner happiness is not further infringed upon. 

We do not underestimate the intents of and damage from bad bacteria or viruses. Negative bacteria will attack the weakest point in our body's process chain. 

We seriously carry out checks and controls to ensure maximum prevention and minimise the possibility of such bad bacteria creating havoc to our bodies ever again. 

We first spend whatever money we have to defend ourselves and make us stronger, instead of anything else. 

We ensure the bad bacteria remains with their ilk and have no means to ever attack our body again. 

We use our utmost intelligence to detect, prevent and remove the source of our body's ill health. 

We do not react only after each episode of symptoms experienced. 

Now just replace the word "body" with your own "country". Or "state" and "region". Even your "community", "neighbourhood" and "family".

The interesting part is your own personal, community and political leader's definition of "bad bacteria".

Sitting Still and For Too Long

In contemporary society, many individuals commute for long hours each day, to find themselves immobile in front of computers in businesses and offices. Then they come home to mostly sit in front of smart phones, smart tvs and tablets.   Even tradies need to complete and email a customer payment or transaction using a laptop.

Unless a person consciously incorporates into his or her daily regimen purposeful walking or other activity, modern life continues to be sedentary. House cleaning, walking the dog, gardening and grocery shopping are outsourced by those who can afford it and say they have no sufficient time to do those chores.  These same individuals may be the ones who sweat it out though at boutique gymnasiums, stop two blocks away from their transport and walk to their destinations and have a fitness trainer for boot camps on weekends.

Money is made by playing the speculative markets in shares, options and property. People can get rich by sitting around instead of actually performing physical activity. Over consumption of food is synchronised with a so called higher standard of living. 

And when people take holidays, perhaps they can walk more but many just sit on beach chairs in resorts. The human body is made for purposeful physical exertion rather than continuing sitting on our bums.

Are we having standing work meetings, social catch ups and dates running through parks? Only the few and the health conscious. Most of us find ourselves sitting in pubs or fancy bars, lounging in hotel set ups and home outdecks or driving the kids around. We prefer to take escalators or elevators instead of using the stairs, even when we are able. 

Entertainment in this so called modern age are littered with over long movies, confined seats watching live performances (unless you are in the mosh pit) and relaxing in home cinemas. We look for seats in public transport and many these days do not give up their seats on buses and trains for more deserving fellow passengers.   have you tested yourself by standing on a moving train for 90 minutes, improving your posture at the same time?

Yet there are those amongst us who undertake hiking pilgrimages, perform ball room moves, charity runs and dawn bike riding exercises. Healthy past times can on the other hand be achieved when sitting down, like meditations, yoga and indulging in meaningful conversations.    The Fit Bits and smart phones can measure your active and sedentary statistics if you allow them to.

The bottom line I reckon is the proportion, regularity and balance between sitting down and not, between moderation and excess and between a natural cycle and forced patterns.